Free Republic

HONOLULU -- (HawaiiNewsNow) -- Hawaii reported 647 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday and two additional fatalities. The two deaths reported were both on Oahu -- a man and woman in their 70s, both were hospitalized and had underlying conditions. The death toll from the virus has risen to 554. Of Wednesday’s new cases: o 431 were on Oahu o 87 on Hawaii Island 96 on Maui o 26 on Kauai reported by the state o one on Molokai There were also six residents diagnosed out of state. The total number of cases in Hawaii since the pandemic began has risen...

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) singled out a statue of Father Damien, a Catholic priest who ministered to a Hawaiian leper colony, as an example of “white supremacist culture.” Father Damien, born Jozef de Veuster in Belgium, arrived in Hawaii in 1864 when the islands were an independent kingdom. The priest conducted missionary work on the islands and for the last 16 years of his life ministered to a leper colony, until he died after contracting leprosy himself. A statue of Father Damien stands in the U.S. Capitol. “It’s not Queen Lili’uokalani…the only Queen Regnant of Hawaii, who is immortalized...

Maui County police says the late state health director Loretta Fuddy died due to cardiac arrhythmia as a result of stress after a Makani Kai Air plane crashed off of Molokai last month. An arrhythmia is a problem with the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat. Fuddy's death has been ruled as accidental. On Dec. 11, the plane lost power off of Kalaupapa. Nine people were on board the plane including Fuddy. The pilot and seven other passengers survived the crash. The pilot and a passenger who swam to shore have said Fuddy appeared fine while bobbing in the water...

HONOLULU (AP) — The pilot of the plane that crashed off Molokai said he broadcast a mayday call once he realized he wouldn't be able to sustain a glide long enough to reach land after his engine lost power. [....] However, NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss has said the agency is not preventing the county from releasing findings from Fuddy's autopsy, which was conducted Friday.

New video of Hawaii sea plane crash

A statue of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha outside the Kateri Shrine in Fonda, N.Y.(CNS file/Nancy Phelan Wiechec) By Carol GlatzCatholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI advanced the sainthood causes of Blessed Marianne Cope of Molokai and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. He also formally recognized the martyrdom of 64 victims of the Spanish Civil War and advanced the causes of 18 other men and women. During a meeting Dec. 19 with Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, the pope signed the decrees recognizing the miracles needed for the canonizations of Blesseds Marianne and Kateri....

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2009 / 10:45 am (CNA).- Today, Pope Benedict XVI canonized five new saints in St. PeterÂ’s Basilica, including Fr. Damian of Molokai. During his homily, the Holy Father noted that all of the saints followed the invitation of Christ: "Come, follow me!"Speaking to the faithful packed in St. PeterÂ’s Basilica this morning, the Pope described the invitation of Christ saying that he "invites his disciples to the total gift of their lives, without calculation and human self-interest, with a wholehearted faith in God." This call, the Holy Father continued, is welcome by the saints who...

Bl. Fr. Damien de Veuster Honolulu, Hawaii, Sep 26, 2009 / 01:08 pm (CNA).- Eleven elderly leprosy patients from Hawaii will travel to the Vatican for the canonization ceremony of Fr. Damien de Veuster, the heroic priest who cared for leprosy patients in Hawaii and died of the disease. The patients’ attending doctor called Fr. Damien their “personal saint.”The Belgian-born priest is a hero in Hawaii for caring for those victims banished to the isolated Kalaupapa peninsula. Native Hawaiians were devastated by leprosy, which appeared after the arrival of Captain James Cook in 1778.About 90 percent of the approximately...

The requisite miracle for his canonization approved in May, the Pope yesterday green-lighted the elevation to sainthood of Bl Damien deVeuster -- the Belgian priest (1840-89) who spent his life ministering to the leper community on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, eventually contracting and dying of the disease. Beatified in 1995, the news gives Stateside Catholicism its seventh product raised to the honors of the altar, and is notable on a global level given the widespread devotion to Bl Damien as unofficial patron of HIV/AIDS patients. Benedict XVI accepted 13 decrees of miracles, martyrdom and heroic virtue presented to...

The Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints has ruled that a Hawaiian woman’s cure from cancer was a miracle linked to her prayers to Blessed Father Damien De Veuster. The missionary priest, who was renowned for working with leprosy patients, is now one step closer to being declared a saint. Audrey Toguchi, a 79-year-old retired schoolteacher who lives in Aiea, became ill in 1997 with a lump on her left thigh that was discovered to be cancerous. She asked her sisters to accompany her to Kalaupapa to pray at Father Damien’s grave. “I prayed that he would ask God...

Collect:Father, help us to seek the values that will bring us eternal joy in this changing world. In our desire for what you promise make us one in mind and heart. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Recipes: » Haupia » Potato-Mac Salad» Slow Cooker Kalua Pig Activities: » Ave Maria Dear» Beautiful, Glorious» Mary Garden» May, the Month of Marymore » Salve Regina» Stella Matutina» 'Tis Said of Our Dear Ladyless Prayers: » Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven)» May...

May 10, 2006 Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter Psalm: Wednesday 20 Reading 1Acts 12:24—13:5a The word of God continued to spread and grow. After Barnabas and Saul completed their relief mission,they returned to Jerusalem,taking with them John, who is called Mark. Now there were in the Church at Antioch prophets and teachers:Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene,Manaen who was a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saulfor the work to which I have called them.”Then, completing...

<p>An environmental advocacy group is suing to stop the first cruise ship visit planned for Moloka'i on Dec. 28, saying an environmental assessment of the potential impact is needed.</p> <p>Earthjustice, on behalf of Moloka'i community group Hui Ho'opakele 'Aina, filed the suit in Maui's second circuit court yesterday arguing that the state must conduct an environmental study because the cruise line Holland America will use state land when it anchors and ferries passengers in its visit.</p>